Hello
and welcome to That's Rentertainment
-- the last locally owned and operated video store in the Champaign-Urbana
/ University of Illinois area. That's Rentertainment caters to film
fans (and fanatics) who have grown tired of the typical
Blockbuster fare. We specialize in International, independent, classic
American and Art House films on DVD (with a handful of VHS tapes
left over that have never been released on DVD). With almost 45,000 DVDs and over 4,500 BluRay discs, Thats Rentertainment has the largest collection
of movies in the entire Champaign-Urbana area -- if not all of Illinois.
We get new movies every week -- if you want to be kept up to date
about them sign up for our weekly e-mail
update or check out our New Arrivals
page. Membership is free (requiring
only 2 photo IDs, or an ID and credit card) and rentals can
be as cheap as $1.00 per disc. So, come
on down and check out what you've been missing!

This week's biggest titles include: "Beyond the Lights" (w/Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Nate Parker), "Big Hero 6" (the latest from Disney), "Horrible Bosses 2" (w/Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) and "Whiplash" (w/Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons). Also, a late arrival from last week: "Olive Kitteridge" (w/Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins, Ken Cheeseman and Bill Murray). We added a couple of new documentaries as well: "Daughters of Dolma" (the female experience of Tibetan Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley) and "Drunk in Public" (chronicling 18 years in the life of alcoholic Mark David Allen). And, on the TV front, we picked up: Midsommer Murders S25 (which is actually the 16th Series), The Saint S2 (1989, w/Simon Dutton as Leslie Charteris' Simon Templar), Sons of Anarchy S7 (the final season) and Z Nation S1. Lastly, we finally added a copy of Sergio Sollima's "The Big Gundown" (aka "La resa dei conti") (1966) with its amazing Ennio Morricone soundtrack to our Westerns section (on DVD and BluRay!). Plenty of great stuff to watch as we anticipate next year's Academy Awards (just 367 days away!). You can check out all of this week's new arrivals below.

In case you missed it, Rachel Bass at the Daily Illini wrote a very nice article about That's Rentertainment: "Walking into a video store, scanning aisle after aisle of endless titles and finally finding the perfect film was like winning the lottery as a child..." (http://goo.gl/r9rbNB)

The top renter in our Classic Science Fiction & Horror section practically defines the category: "King Kong" (1933). Coming in second is Boris Karloff in "The Old Dark House" (1932) and Criterion's new pressing of "The Atomic Submarine" (from the Monsters and Madmen box set) rounds out the Top 3. As Kino, Criterion, Olive Films and others restore and release more and more classic films, we are seeing an upsurge in interest in all our Classic sections -- including the Classic Science Fiction & Horror section. Some of the stars and titles are recognizable to everyone (Bela Lugosi, Claude Rains and Boris Karloff starring in the films Dracula, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, Frankenstein and The Wolf Man, for instance) but there are so many more titles to explore. The Top 10 is always a good place to start. And, next time you're poking around on the internet, look up the original poster art for these movies -- some of the most beautiful posters ever made (especially the Belgian ones!). Here are the Top Renters from our Classic Science Fiction & Horror section:
1 KING KONG (1933)
2 OLD DARK HOUSE, THE
3 ATOMIC SUBMARINE/FIRST MAN...
4 FLYING SERPENT, THE
5 GIANT GILA MONSTER, THE
6 GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, THE
7 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (55)
8 MOON ZERO TWO/WHEN DINOSAURS . . .
9 MUMMY, THE (1932)
10 THING, THE (1951)
(a longer version of this list and more "Top 100" lists can be found here)

International
Video Transfers: That's Rentertainment can transfer your
PAL VHS tapes and DVDs to NTSC video and DVD. We can also make DVDs from your home videos (VHS, 8mm or MiniDV). Click here for more information.

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Miscellaneous Stuff

Gift Certificates
Give the gift that shows you don't care enough
to give it a whole lot of thought -- Gift certificates are NOW
AVAILABLE! Buy one for a friend, send one to your kid or be
selfish and just get it for yourself. Available in any amount -- including any size Renter-Block.

What's the "The Itty Bitty Bike Shop"?
Right when you walk into Rentertainment, you may have noticed what might very well be the smallest bike shop in the world (right now it's about 2' x 2') sitting where the Pepsi machine used to sit. We call it the "Itty Bitty Bike Shop". It's got all the basics for your commuting needs: chain lube, inner tubes, lights, multi-tools, patch kits, some reflectors, tire levers, water bottles, locks, and, of course, the ChampaignCountyBikes.org Urbana-Champaign Bike map. We've also got a pump (schrader and presta) in case you need some air. Ride safely! We've got lots more stuff at the main IttyBittyBikeShop (tucked away just north of Downtown Urbana in Parasol Records)

Essential
Art House Films: 50 Years of Janus Films
Quite a few years ago (2007!) I decided to watch the entire Essential
Art House box set -- one film per week in the order presented
in the box, alphabetical chronological order. I wrote
one paragraph reviews of each film as I watched them. If you want, you can read the reviews here.

That's
Rentertainment used to be the proud sponsor of...
we've stopped but you can still watch the Red Green Show on WILL-TV